News

The OUSA Executive has put the 2012 budget to notice, ahead of a referendum timed to coincide with the OUSA Elections, in which students will vote on whether to pass the budget.

Following the successful third reading of the VSM Bill in Parliament last week, the budget reflects the possible environment within which the association will operate next year. In light of the Education (Freedom of Association) Amendment Bill becoming legislation as of January 1 2012, the OUSA Executive has opted not to set a levy for next year.
 
The rationale behind this appears to be to get as many students as possible to sign up to the association, as the enactment of the Bill means that students will no longer automatically become members of OUSA upon enrolment at university. The accompanying notes to the budget also explain that the zero levy is being instituted “in order to maintain services to all students.”
 
The level of services that can be provided in a VSM environment will be significantly reduced from the status quo. The budget represents “a pared down OUSA with net expenditure at the average of the surplus of the last two full years of operation.”
 
There have been major cuts across the board, with reductions being particularly noticeable in Events, the Sports and Society Grants, Te Roopu Maori, and Planet Media Dunedin Limited.
 
The cut to Events will require “more volunteers, and there is the risk of a lesser quality event,” according to OUSA General Manager Darel Hall.
 
Two areas that face only small cuts in expenditure are the Student Support Centre and the Elections line. OUSA President Logan Edgar said that the lesser cuts to Student Support Centre and Elections reflect the importance of those services to the association, which will continue to run at their full capacity in 2012.
 
Executive Honoraria has taken a total decrease of $48,500. The 2012 President will be paid $4,000 less than the amount Edgar received this year, with compensation for 2012 set at $12.50 an hour, on the basis of 40 hours a week.
 
Critic’s commitment to investigative journalism led the publication to determine that this level of pay flouts the prescribed minimum hourly wage rate of $13 an hour set by Her Majesty’s Government, effectively meaning OUSA is instituting slave labour in 2012.
 
The budget has been put to notice prior to the finalisation of negotiations with the University regarding the possibility of a contract for services. If a service agreement is reached, there is the possibility that the University may charge students their own levies, something that occurred at the University of Auckland when that institution adopted the voluntary membership model after a referendum in 1999.